Select Local Merchants

Westerville Golf Center's lush driving range coddles golfers with first-rate facilities that landed it on Golf Range Magazine's 2011 Top 100 Ranges list. With the Birdie Frequent Hitter card in tow, golfers can whack, juggle, and comically trip over $36 worth of driving range balls while traversing 80 verdant grass slug-stations. A fleet of 40 covered tees, heated in winter, shelter stick swingers from summer sun and unseasonable chills, and loaner clubs are on hand for those still slicing the air with old mannequin legs. Ideal for sharing with a close friend or one of the staff's PGA instructors, orbs come in small ($5/40 balls), large ($7.50/75 balls), and jumbo ($13/175 balls) buckets.

The telltale sounds of fun fill the air at either Magic Mountain Fun Center location, as friends and families careen around tracks in go-karts, compete on mind-bending mini-golf courses, or do battle in bumper cars. Piping-hot pizzas fuel days of rides and arcade games, and the park's varied birthday packages catapult parties into a fun-filled gamut of feasting, bumper boats, and laser tag. Open late, the parks afford guests the opportunity to while the night away or lure their night terrors in front of a speeding bumper car.

Animal expert Jack Hanna is still the public face of this zoo, whose quality he elevated while serving as director throughout the '80s. These days, more than 10,000 animals from around the world roam through natural-looking habitats. Notable residents include Colo, the first gorilla born in captivity; asian elephants; large monitor lizards; giraffes you can feed; and stingrays you can pet.

Powered by a custom-built, no-emission technology, single and double go-karts race down straightaways and hug the turns of THE WEB Extreme Entertainment?s more than 500-foot electric track. Heart rates race in the indoor laser-tag arena, where games unfold on eight upper-level platforms, each with their own open-grid floor. Meanwhile, guests can conquer the pins and pretend to be giants at a Hawaiian-themed miniature-bowling alley replete with six wood-grain synthetic lanes, score monitors, and optional bumpers. More miniaturized fun kicks off at Jurassic Par, a black-lit nine-hole course where guests putt past such prehistoric creatures as a 17-foot-long apatasaurus and 6-foot-7 disco enthusiast.
At the Winners Caf?, chefs reenergize visitors with oven-baked dishes such as 100% ground-chuck burgers and cincinnati chili. The Web accommodates groups of up to 600 guests in its spacious party rooms and keeps the fun going until midnight every Friday and Saturday.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa tilts characteristically as a nearby sphinx rests beside a bush. What sounds like an atlas come to life is really the theme of one of the two 18-hole mini-golf courses at Rinky Dink. After a round, customers can hug the turns on a go-kart track, soak and ram fellow seadogs on squirt-gun-equipped bumper boats, or test home-run skills at three baseball and three softball batting cages that hurl balls at up to 80 mph, which is the speed of light. Once indoors, guests can fire foam balls at targets from air cannons in the black-lit Pirates vs. Aliens game or navigate their way through an inflatable bouncer maze. The indoor playground features three levels of climbing structures and slides. An arcade hosts more than 35 video and redemption games such as Ms. Pac-Man, Dance Dance Revolution, and the new motion-sensitive Nap Nap Revolution, while tinier tykes stack giant waffle blocks or navigate a ball pit in the toddler area.

Winner of ParentsConnect's award for Cleveland's Best Indoor Playspace in 2009, Amazone Family Entertainment Center sets the stage for jungle-themed parties and open play sessions. Its three-story playground surrounds kids and parents in slides, bridges, and plastic trees, all accented by faux foliage that simulates the gorilla-run play centers of the Amazon. Elsewhere, the glowing eyes of temple creatures peer down at players within a black-lit laser-tag arena. An orchestra of laughter and electronic beeps emerge from within the arcade, which hosts 50 games, including air hockey, skee ball, and racing. To fuel playtime, Amazone's team slings pizza at a snack bar and hosts celebrations within five themed birthday-party rooms. The facility also caters to parents with comfy couches and free WiFi that lets them stream their favorite cartoons.